Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes again, I was kneeling in the Gu Family ancestral hall.

Incense ash fell onto my fingertips, the heat making me flinch violently.

Spring thunder rolled outside as a maid hurried in to report, “Second Miss, an imperial decree has arrived from the palace. His Majesty has granted a marriage between you and Prince Jing. The Master requests your presence in the front hall to receive the decree.”

Three months ago.

Everything had returned to the time before my nightmare began.

I braced myself against the offering table and slowly stood up. My heart hammered against my ribs, so frantic it felt as if it might shatter my bones. In my previous life, I had accepted the decree and married Zhou Xuzhang with a heart full of joy, believing I was marrying the virtuous man who had saved me in my youth. But later, the Gu Family was framed, my father died in the Imperial Prison, and Zhou Xuzhang took the secret records left by my mother, turning me into a substitute corpse the moment his back was turned.

In this life, I certainly would not walk that path again.

Yet I also knew that I could not afford a direct confrontation right now. Since Zhou Xuzhang had already set his sights on the Gu Family, resisting the decree would only force him to find a swifter way to strike.

I had to hide my blade first and wait for him to run onto it himself.

In the front hall, the imperial decree had just been read, and the room was filled with an air of celebration. My stepmother was beaming, as if I had truly stumbled upon a stroke of immense fortune. My father, Gu Chong, however, had a grim expression, his fingers tightening slightly as he received the decree.

I remembered that look.

In my previous life, my father had once cautioned me: “Prince Jing may not be a good match for you.”

But back then, I was blinded by love and dismissed his concerns as overthinking.

This time, I took the decree and kowtowed submissively. “This subject’s daughter accepts the decree.”

As I rose, I saw a flash of surprise in my father’s eyes.

After returning to my room, I immediately searched through my mother’s old trunks. There was a false bottom at the very base of one chest. I hadn’t discovered it until the day I died in my last life, but now, relying on my memory, I found the mechanism. With a light press, a hidden compartment popped open.

Inside were only three items.

A palm-sized Bronze Bone Lamp, a single page of a roster that was half-charred, and a thin piece of silk with writing on it.

On the silk was my mother’s handwriting:

“If someone attempts a Body-Switching Fate, check the Cold Palace well first, then check the Xiao Family daughter.”

I stared at those words, a chill slowly creeping up my spine.

The trap that I hadn’t understood even in death was finally revealing its first crack in this life.

In the evening, Zhou Xuzhang personally came to the house to deliver the betrothal gifts.

He wore a moon-white brocade robe, looking as refined and gentle as jade nurtured in a spring breeze-a world apart from the man who had strangled me in the paupers’ morgue. When he saw me, his eyes curved slightly. “Lanyin, upon hearing of the marriage grant, I couldn’t wait a moment longer to come and see you.”

Suppressing the nausea churning in my stomach, I returned the greeting with a smile. “Your Highness is most thoughtful.”

He handed me a mutton-fat jade bracelet, exactly the same as in my previous life.

“You look good wearing this,” he said.

I stared at the bracelet, remembering the Silver Bell tied to the wrist of the substitute corpse in the paupers’ morgue. My fingernails nearly dug into my palms. After a moment, I looked up and smiled at him. “Since it is a gift from Your Highness, it is naturally wonderful.”

He probably hadn’t expected me to agree so readily, and a hint of satisfaction flickered in his eyes.

After he was sent off, my father finally entered my room.

“Have you thought this through?” he asked.

I looked at his hair, which had fewer white strands than in my previous life. My nose prickled with emotion, but I only whispered, “I have thought it through. Father, what exactly did Mother discover back then?”

Father’s head snapped up, his expression changing drastically.

I didn’t beat around the bush and simply placed the charred page before him.

Gu Chong stared at the words on the paper as if he had aged ten years in an instant. After a long silence, he said in a heavy voice, “From this day forward, you are not allowed to go out alone. Especially for palace banquets-do not try to be brave.”

My heart sank. “Does it have something to do with the Xiao Family?”

Father didn’t answer, only saying, “If you truly want to live, stay far away from Prince Jing and stay close to Wen Xiuzhu.”

I was stunned.

Until the moment I died in my last life, I had only met Wen Xiuzhu a handful of times. When the Gu Family met its downfall, he was the one commissioned to investigate the case; I had once hated him for standing by and doing nothing.

Yet my father was telling me to get close to him.

Outside, the night grew darker, the wind making the shadows of the lamps flicker.

I suddenly had an extremely bad premonition.

Father knew far more than I had imagined.